[[!meta date="2019-11-03T22:34:18.472483"]]
[[!meta author="Tyler Cipriani"]]
[[!meta copyright="""
Copyright &copy; 2019 Tyler Cipriani
"""]]
[[!meta title="Wikipedia and the Big-Tech Backlash"]]
[[!tag computing culture wikimedia Wikipedia]]

While the big-tech giants of Silicon Valley are drawing some much deserved
scrutiny from the public and from lawmakers in the United States, Wikipedia --
a tech giant in its own right -- has remained above the fray.

This is not because Wikipedia is inherently a force for good -- although it is
most certainly that -- rather there are two things that protect Wikipedia (and
its users): Wikipedia does not sacrifice the privacy of its users and Wikipedia
is *not* a social media site. The failure to recognize these distinctions
represents an existential threat to Wikipedia and its mission of Free
Knowledge. It's easy to become complacent if you feel like your ends will
always justify your means.

Wikipedia is unique among large websites simply by *not* being a social media
site. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia -- it's a tertiary source. It does not
contain [original research][WP_OR] or opinion (at least where [most folks
look][jacobs]). The proliferation of misinformation is often stymied by having
to cite reliable sources (particularly when you also create guidelines for
[reliable sources][WP_RS]). Further, the Wikipedia community works tirelessly
to ensure the integrity of information on the platform. There are
[many][zillman] [problems][sayej] with the information on Wikipedia -- these
problems are a reflection of the problems with the culture that created
Wikipedia and not (for the most part) problems inherent to Wikipedia itself.
Tertiary sources are cultural artifacts that reflect culture back on itself.
Wikipedia is part of the culture, but it is not creating a cultural shift in
the same way that social media does (for better or worse).

Wikipedia is also unique among large websites in that it doesn't exploit
user-privacy to turn a profit. The foundations of Wikipedia and Free
Knowledge are the Free Software and Free Culture movements, which are
themselves antithetical to the late-stage capitalism that has pushed many
Silicon Valley unicorns into the exploitation of their user-base for short-term
gains. That is not to say that this kind of exploitation is antithetical to
Wikipedia itself -- only that it hasn't happened because the community involved
hasn't allowed it to happen: missing this distinction is an existential threat
to Wikipedia as a bulwark of Free Culture.

The ends of Free Knowledge, however noble, can easily become corrupted if the
means by which that knowledge is gained and disseminated are incompatible with
the foundations of the Free Culture movement.

Much akin to the [Euthyphro dilemma][Euthyphro_dilemma], Free Knowledge isn't
good because it's what Wikipedia -- a force for good -- does; rather, the
[mission][wp_mission] and [values][wp_values] of the Free Knowledge movement
are good for the world so (for now at least) Wikipedia is doing them.

Treating Wikipedia as a [panacea for the myriad sins of Silicon
Valley][herrman] is not simply a disservice to Wikipedia, it endangers
Wikipedia's future by lulling those with an outsized influence on the movement
and its direction into a false sense of certainty that -- whatever the path --
if Wikipedia's doing it: it'll be for the best.

<blockquote style="background: rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.1); border: 1px solid tomato; text-align: center;">
<h3>BIG GIANT DISCLAIMER OF DOOM</h3>

My views are my own. My views do not represent the views of any employer I've had/have: past, present, or future. I'm probably not even qualified to have these views. I am an egg.
</blockquote>

[WP_OR]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:OR>
[WP_RS]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:RS>
[jacobs]: <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/wikipedia-harassment-wikimedia-foundation.html>
[Euthyphro_dilemma]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma>
[wp_mission]: <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mission>
[wp_values]: <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Values/2008>
[herrman]: <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/business/media/youtube-wikipedia.html>
[sayej]: <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/mar/15/wikipedia-edit-a-thon-women-arts>
[zillman]: <https://fortune.com/2018/10/17/donna-strickland-nobel-prize-physics-wikipedia/>
